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Gospel Centered Story Bibles

March 4, 2020 by Aliesha

In addition to our picture book collection, we also have lots of Gospel centered story Bibles and Bible adaptations in our home library as well!

Jesus Storybook Bible | Gospel Centered Story Bibles | Feathers in Our Nest

Hands-down, our favorite is the Jesus Storybook Bible! This is the most beautiful retelling of the overall story of the Bible–every story whispers HIS name! We love it!

Thoughts to Make Your Heart Sing | Gospel Centered Story Bibles | Feathers in Our Nest

By the same author as the above title, Thoughts to Make Your Heart Sing is another beautiful book that we love to read to our kids!

Found | Gospel Centered Story Bibles | Feathers in Our Nest

We also love this beautiful retelling of Psalm 23 for younger readers, called Found! The illustrations are lovely and our kids have really enjoyed this title.

Psalms | Gospel Centered Story Bibles | Feathers in Our Nest

Psalms for Young Children is another great one! It’s good for helping our children understand how they also can express their emotions to God!

The Biggest Story | Gospel Centered Story Bibles | Feathers in Our Nest

This is another amazing retelling of the big story of Scripture! The Biggest Story: How the Snake Crusher Brings us Back to the Garden is gorgeous and powerful! I enjoy it as much as my kids!

Mighty Acts of God | Gospel Centered Story Bibles | Feathers in Our Nest

Mighty Acts of God is directed for kids who are a bit older than the above-mentioned resources, and it’s really nice for reading before bed!

The Beginners Gospel Story Bible | Gospel Centered Story Bibles | Feathers in Our Nest

We just added the Beginner’s Gospel Story Bible to our home library at Christmas, but the kids have been enjoying it! My son has been reading it in his afternoon rest time, which is neat to see!

Honorable mention: The Big Picture Story Bible! We literally wore out our copy! But we still love listening to the audio version on Audible!

I’d love to hear in the comments… does your family have any of these story Bibles? Or do you have a different one that you love reading with your kids? Tell me down below!

And feel free to save this post for later, or share it with a friend who would love these resources too!

Gospel Centered Story Bibles and Resources for Families | Feathers in Our Nest

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Gospel Centered Picture Books

March 3, 2020 by Aliesha

Our family has been collecting gospel-centered picture books for our children since they were small, and I thought it would be fun to share some of our family’s favorites!

I’m planning a few more posts with other gospel centered resources for families, so get excited! I love helping other families find books that will build and grow their home libraries.

The Garden the Curtain and the Cross | Gospel Centered Picture Books | Feathers in Our Nest

I’ll start with this amazing title for Easter, or any time of year! The Garden the Curtain and the Cross shares the true story of why Jesus died and rose again! It’s beautifully illustrated, and there are some companion resources you can get as well: an Easter calendar, and a coloring book! (Just ordered those and I’ll share them on Instagram when they arrive!)

The Storm that Stopped | Gospel Centered Picture Books | Feathers in Our Nest

The Storm that Stopped is another favorite picture book at our house! It tells the story of Jesus calming the sea, and it is a great book for explaining to children that Jesus was God!

Goodbye to Goodbyes | Gospel Centered Picture Books | Feathers in Our Nest

Goodbye to Goodbyes is another wonderful one for the Easter season, as it tells how Jesus has power over life AND death!

The Friend Who Forgives | Gospel Centered Picture Books | Feathers in Our Nest

In the picture book The Friend Who Forgives, we read about Peter and his failures, and learn about the amazing grace of Jesus as He forgives Peter!

God's Very Good Idea | Gospel Centered Picture Books | Feathers in Our Nest

God’s Very Good Idea is a picture book about the church… God’s wonderful, delightfully different family that He planned! Wonderful for helping little ones understand the purpose of the church and what it means to live in community with others.

Zoe's Hiding Place | Gospel Centered Picture Books | Feathers in Our Nest

We really love these Gospel centered picture books by David Powlison and Ed Welch! The one pictured above is Zoe’s Hiding Place (a book about anxiety), but we also love Jax’s Tail Twitches (a book about anger), and Buster’s Ears Trip Him Up (a book about failure). These books teach through BIG concepts in a very biblical way!

The Biggest Story ABC | Gospel Centered Picture Books | Feathers in Our Nest

Your tiniest readers will love this board book: the Biggest Story ABC! Each board book page features brightly colored illustrations that teach biblical concepts for each letter of the alphabet.

God Made Light | Gospel Centered Picture Books | Feathers in Our Nest

God Made Light teaches the story of creation and God’s mighty work of speaking light into being, and then the book shows how as image bearers, we get to reflect God’s light to the world!

God Made All of Me | Gospel Centered Picture Books | Feathers in Our Nest

An important picture book on a serious topic, God Made All of Me teaches children about protecting their bodies, and opens up good topics for discussion between parents and children! We’ve read this many times with our kids and it’s been very helpful in them understanding appropriate touch and behavior. (I wrote my original review of this book several years ago.)

Good Pictures Bad Pictures Jr | Gospel Centered Picture Books | Feathers in Our Nest

Another important issue is addressed in this picture book: Good Pictures Bad Pictures Jr. We have read this with our older three kids and found it very helpful in teaching them what to do when they encounter inappropriate pictures. This book helps prepare them with a plan!

I hope you enjoyed learning about some of our family’s favorite Gospel centered picture books! I have three more posts coming with additional resources we love— family devotions, story Bibles, and books for your older readers too!

Feel free to save this post or share it with a friend!

Ministry Then and Now

March 27, 2019 by Aliesha

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how different my ministry looks now than it did a decade ago.

During my last three years of college, I was meeting with five to six people on a regular basis. We met for discipleship and accountability, and we read Scripture and good books together. We shared the hard stuff in our lives and we prayed together. Sometimes we sat in the hall of our dorm eating cereal while it was still dark and roommates were sleeping. Sometimes we grabbed lunch in between classes and finished sharing prayer requests as we sped-walked to our next class. Sometimes we shared notes from our journals and discussed what the original Greek words meant.

As a member of campus leadership, I memorized this definition of discipleship: Discipling others is a process by which a Christian with a life worth emulating commits himself or herself for an extended period of time to a few individuals who have been won to Christ, the purpose being to aid and guide their growth and maturity, and equip them to reproduce themselves in a third spiritual generation.

Discipleship looks different now, ten years later. I’m currently discipling five little people every day, and it’s no less valuable than the focused times of Scripture reading and prayer with college girls in 2005-2009.

My kids ask tough theological questions. They want to know more about who God is and why they can’t see Him. We read the Bible, yes, but we also read the Jesus Storybook Bible a lot. We talk about the resurrection and what it means that the curtain tore in two. They memorize the answers to catechism questions, and we talk together about the sermon from Sunday.

More than that, though, they see Tad and me living as flawed believers day in and day out. They see me reading the Bible in the morning when they come into my bedroom. They see me cry about things that break my heart. They see me sin, and they see me ask for forgiveness.

Maybe you’re in a season that looks a lot more like my life today than my life ten years ago. Maybe instead of early morning Bible studies, you’re doing early morning cuddles and mid-day boo-boo kissing and sweet bedtime prayers that turn into please-make-them-sleep prayers.

This discipleship you’re doing matters to Jesus.

Then people brought little children to Jesus for Him to place His hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked them. Jesus said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” When He had placed His hands on them, He went on from there.

Matthew 19:13-15

The disciples in this passage minimized the importance of ministry to children. We don’t know exactly what they were thinking, but their response indicates hearts that thought Jesus was wasting His time by praying for little children. Perhaps they thought He should be spending His time pouring into adults who truly mattered.

But Jesus’ response showed His heart for children: “Do not hinder them. For the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”